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Appleton Post-Crescent: Your Fox Cities News Source - Deaf ministry allows deaf, hard-of-hearing to worship on own terms
Todd Valitchka remembers napping in church as a child.
"It was so boring," Valitchka said. "There was nothing. I was stuck, and it was so frustrating."
Valitchka was born deaf. For the Green Bay man, worshipping in a church was comparable to a hearing person watching a movie without sound or subtitles. All the scenery is there, but it's hard to figure out the plot.
Enter the Hands of Christ Deaf Ministry.
For 10 years, the Appleton-based ministry has sought to reach people like Valitchka, to give deaf and hard-of-hearing Christians in the Fox Valley the opportunity to worship in their own language.
"God's hand is leading in ways I never could have imagined," said founder the Rev. Gisele Berninghaus, who with ministry volunteers each week travels throughout the region to provide to the deaf community the same worship opportunities hearing people receive.
Valitchka doesn't have time to nod off in church these days. He's too busy sharing his faith as a member of the Hands of Christ Deaf Choir.
"I really love the choir, and to travel to hearing churches is great," he signed. "Then the hearing people can learn about sign language and it is more active. It makes people very interested in what we do."
Growing up deaf
Berninghaus, who founded Hands of Christ in 1997, grew up in deaf churches. Her father was a pastor for the deaf.
"I learned sign language so I didn't have to sit still in church, and it clicked with me," she said. "So I had some deaf friends."
Her deaf friends often hid their deafness from the raised eyebrows of others.
"When I was in fifth or sixth grade, I remember being in a store with some deaf friends and we would sign little or we would hide it," she said. "I grew up feeling that."
So did Leslie Riggs. Born hard of hearing, she was forced to learn to read lips and speak proper English by her parents. On the advice of experts, she also was not allowed to socialize with other deaf people for fear she would stop speaking and start signing. She was mainstreamed into a regular school, where she became a straight-A student but had no social life. And, having never met a deaf adult, she was convinced once she hit 18, she would die.
Karla Clocksin of Neenah also felt separated and different from others growing up. "I tried to explain to my father different things I felt, but he just wouldn't accept that. He couldn't understand that I couldn't understand things in the same way," she signed.
Until Valitchka was 8, he couldn't communicate with his family. At the Wisconsin School for the Deaf in Delevan, he quickly caught on to American Sign Language. Other than a sister-in-law and his mother (who knows a few signs) no one in his family has had the patience to learn sign language.
Valitchka said his social group now is his deaf friends who are like family. "It's the same culture, it's the same language. Many of the deaf don't feel connected to their families because they don't understand sign language. The deaf community has a tight connection."
A ministry is born
Even for hearing children, learning about God in Sunday school is like hearing a story about a superhero who makes miracles happen, dies and comes back to life and then disappears into the clouds on his way back to heaven.
Imagine being told that incredulous story without words.
"I learned absolutely nothing," recalled Missy Vannuland of Oshkosh of early attempts at finding religion.
When Berninghaus went to a seminary in Sioux Falls, S.D., she had plans to begin a deaf ministry but never aspired to be a pastor. She is ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
When the idea of a deaf ministry initially was brought before the Rev. John Beem, former bishop of Wisconsin's East Central Synod, he had never met a deaf person nor thought of a ministry for them. But the idea was a winner, and Beem thought an ecumenical ministry would best serve area deaf and hearing-impaired.
Deaf people, Berninghaus said, do not have denominational loyalties because they've never really had the option. "If it is Christian and there is someone who can sign, they are fine."
The Hands of Christ ministry is supported by the Winnebago Presbytery, the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac, the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Since there was no precedent locally for such a ministry, Berninghaus designed it to fit the congregation. Among the services provided are weekly worship opportunities in various east central and northeast Wisconsin locations; new member classes that provide basic information and preparation on baptism, communion, confirmation and marriage; religious education classes for children and adults; pastoral counseling and visits; vacation Bible school; and a sign choir composed of deaf and hard of hearing members.
"I feel that things are smoother when God is with me. (And) I can still serve God," Riggs said. "It doesn't matter that I'm deaf."
Making music
Shortly after forming the Hands of Christ, Berninghaus also had the idea of putting together a choir similar to a Catholic choir she knew of in Green Bay. But designing the new choir ministry made her a little nervous at first.
"With the choir, I didn't want it to feel like we were putting deaf people up for show," she said. "But when I saw the response with the hearing folks and the connection they make with each other — it's a bridge that doesn't happen any other way. The deaf are using the skills God has given them, and it really does minister to hearing people."
From September through May, the Hands of Christ Deaf Ministry choir travels to various hearing churches to inspire others with the message of Christ and to share information about the deaf ministry and the deaf culture.
Choir director Kalyn Olson can hear and directs the completely quiet choir to sign and act out the words of a song while the music and lyrics are played for the congregation. The English words of a song are translated into American Sign Language, which relay the concept not the actual words.
"It's as though God's love comes through the expressions even if you don't know the sign language," Berninghaus said.
There have been so many requests for the eight-member choir to appear that the monthly Travel Sunday is expected to be bumped up to two.
"I like singing the different songs and showing the hearing people we can sing with our hands," Vannuland signed. "Even if we can't hear, our hands can really express things. I think it's wonderful."
"I feel inspired every time we are doing one of our songs and talk about God's coming and walking with us," Riggs signed. "It has a strong meaning for deaf people knowing that God is walking beside me, with me all the way. I love to sign that. I feel really inspired. Also, when we communicate in songs like 'I Can Only Imagine' or 'Amazing Grace,' they really hit hearing people hard. It really touches their hearts, and it is a good feeling. They understand that we follow the same God. And it's very important to share."
"I have noticed sometimes when we travel the parents say the children really pay attention, but sometimes the adults watching the choir cry because we are really touching their heart," Clocksin signed. "Sometimes a certain song really hits them."
The Hands of Christ Deaf Choir allows hearing congregations to experience worship through a different set of eyes, said the Rev. Doug Bisbee, senior pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Combined Locks and Sherwood. It also sensitizes them to a different culture.
"When they sing as a choir, obviously they are signing everything and so even though music is being played, it's visual," Bisbee said. "So now we are being invited to use our eyes instead of just our ears, which, of course, is the world they experience."
Berninghaus also interprets worship weekly at different congregations, sometimes in conjunction with the choir's appearance, sometimes alone with her "voice on." The HOC ministry also meets the third Thursday of the month for worship in the chapel at First United Church in Appleton.
"When I see our choir standing up and communicating in a way that expresses so much love and saying this is who God made us — we have gifts and we get to share them with you — to see that change is so marvelous," Berninghaus said.
Riggs feels it is her role to teach and educate people about the deaf.
"Don't be afraid of deaf people," she said. "Each deaf person is different."
"We are human beings; we just can't hear, that's all," Vannuland added. "We don't need your sympathy. We don't need your pity."
Todd Valitchka remembers napping in church as a child.
"It was so boring," Valitchka said. "There was nothing. I was stuck, and it was so frustrating."
Valitchka was born deaf. For the Green Bay man, worshipping in a church was comparable to a hearing person watching a movie without sound or subtitles. All the scenery is there, but it's hard to figure out the plot.
Enter the Hands of Christ Deaf Ministry.
For 10 years, the Appleton-based ministry has sought to reach people like Valitchka, to give deaf and hard-of-hearing Christians in the Fox Valley the opportunity to worship in their own language.
"God's hand is leading in ways I never could have imagined," said founder the Rev. Gisele Berninghaus, who with ministry volunteers each week travels throughout the region to provide to the deaf community the same worship opportunities hearing people receive.
Valitchka doesn't have time to nod off in church these days. He's too busy sharing his faith as a member of the Hands of Christ Deaf Choir.
"I really love the choir, and to travel to hearing churches is great," he signed. "Then the hearing people can learn about sign language and it is more active. It makes people very interested in what we do."
Growing up deaf
Berninghaus, who founded Hands of Christ in 1997, grew up in deaf churches. Her father was a pastor for the deaf.
"I learned sign language so I didn't have to sit still in church, and it clicked with me," she said. "So I had some deaf friends."
Her deaf friends often hid their deafness from the raised eyebrows of others.
"When I was in fifth or sixth grade, I remember being in a store with some deaf friends and we would sign little or we would hide it," she said. "I grew up feeling that."
So did Leslie Riggs. Born hard of hearing, she was forced to learn to read lips and speak proper English by her parents. On the advice of experts, she also was not allowed to socialize with other deaf people for fear she would stop speaking and start signing. She was mainstreamed into a regular school, where she became a straight-A student but had no social life. And, having never met a deaf adult, she was convinced once she hit 18, she would die.
Karla Clocksin of Neenah also felt separated and different from others growing up. "I tried to explain to my father different things I felt, but he just wouldn't accept that. He couldn't understand that I couldn't understand things in the same way," she signed.
Until Valitchka was 8, he couldn't communicate with his family. At the Wisconsin School for the Deaf in Delevan, he quickly caught on to American Sign Language. Other than a sister-in-law and his mother (who knows a few signs) no one in his family has had the patience to learn sign language.
Valitchka said his social group now is his deaf friends who are like family. "It's the same culture, it's the same language. Many of the deaf don't feel connected to their families because they don't understand sign language. The deaf community has a tight connection."
A ministry is born
Even for hearing children, learning about God in Sunday school is like hearing a story about a superhero who makes miracles happen, dies and comes back to life and then disappears into the clouds on his way back to heaven.
Imagine being told that incredulous story without words.
"I learned absolutely nothing," recalled Missy Vannuland of Oshkosh of early attempts at finding religion.
When Berninghaus went to a seminary in Sioux Falls, S.D., she had plans to begin a deaf ministry but never aspired to be a pastor. She is ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
When the idea of a deaf ministry initially was brought before the Rev. John Beem, former bishop of Wisconsin's East Central Synod, he had never met a deaf person nor thought of a ministry for them. But the idea was a winner, and Beem thought an ecumenical ministry would best serve area deaf and hearing-impaired.
Deaf people, Berninghaus said, do not have denominational loyalties because they've never really had the option. "If it is Christian and there is someone who can sign, they are fine."
The Hands of Christ ministry is supported by the Winnebago Presbytery, the Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac, the United Church of Christ, the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Since there was no precedent locally for such a ministry, Berninghaus designed it to fit the congregation. Among the services provided are weekly worship opportunities in various east central and northeast Wisconsin locations; new member classes that provide basic information and preparation on baptism, communion, confirmation and marriage; religious education classes for children and adults; pastoral counseling and visits; vacation Bible school; and a sign choir composed of deaf and hard of hearing members.
"I feel that things are smoother when God is with me. (And) I can still serve God," Riggs said. "It doesn't matter that I'm deaf."
Making music
Shortly after forming the Hands of Christ, Berninghaus also had the idea of putting together a choir similar to a Catholic choir she knew of in Green Bay. But designing the new choir ministry made her a little nervous at first.
"With the choir, I didn't want it to feel like we were putting deaf people up for show," she said. "But when I saw the response with the hearing folks and the connection they make with each other — it's a bridge that doesn't happen any other way. The deaf are using the skills God has given them, and it really does minister to hearing people."
From September through May, the Hands of Christ Deaf Ministry choir travels to various hearing churches to inspire others with the message of Christ and to share information about the deaf ministry and the deaf culture.
Choir director Kalyn Olson can hear and directs the completely quiet choir to sign and act out the words of a song while the music and lyrics are played for the congregation. The English words of a song are translated into American Sign Language, which relay the concept not the actual words.
"It's as though God's love comes through the expressions even if you don't know the sign language," Berninghaus said.
There have been so many requests for the eight-member choir to appear that the monthly Travel Sunday is expected to be bumped up to two.
"I like singing the different songs and showing the hearing people we can sing with our hands," Vannuland signed. "Even if we can't hear, our hands can really express things. I think it's wonderful."
"I feel inspired every time we are doing one of our songs and talk about God's coming and walking with us," Riggs signed. "It has a strong meaning for deaf people knowing that God is walking beside me, with me all the way. I love to sign that. I feel really inspired. Also, when we communicate in songs like 'I Can Only Imagine' or 'Amazing Grace,' they really hit hearing people hard. It really touches their hearts, and it is a good feeling. They understand that we follow the same God. And it's very important to share."
"I have noticed sometimes when we travel the parents say the children really pay attention, but sometimes the adults watching the choir cry because we are really touching their heart," Clocksin signed. "Sometimes a certain song really hits them."
The Hands of Christ Deaf Choir allows hearing congregations to experience worship through a different set of eyes, said the Rev. Doug Bisbee, senior pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Combined Locks and Sherwood. It also sensitizes them to a different culture.
"When they sing as a choir, obviously they are signing everything and so even though music is being played, it's visual," Bisbee said. "So now we are being invited to use our eyes instead of just our ears, which, of course, is the world they experience."
Berninghaus also interprets worship weekly at different congregations, sometimes in conjunction with the choir's appearance, sometimes alone with her "voice on." The HOC ministry also meets the third Thursday of the month for worship in the chapel at First United Church in Appleton.
"When I see our choir standing up and communicating in a way that expresses so much love and saying this is who God made us — we have gifts and we get to share them with you — to see that change is so marvelous," Berninghaus said.
Riggs feels it is her role to teach and educate people about the deaf.
"Don't be afraid of deaf people," she said. "Each deaf person is different."
"We are human beings; we just can't hear, that's all," Vannuland added. "We don't need your sympathy. We don't need your pity."
